A Plethora of Pictures

Last week when we were in Birmingham, the girls got to play with some new toys. Their cousin Leighton has a ball pit and they thought it was great. Or their dad did. Not sure which...

Claire and Amelia really enjoyed spending some time with their Paw-Paw. Once they warmed up to him. They are in a no-strangers mode right now. Luckily it doesn't take them too long to decide you're not a stranger. Little sweet peas!

I like to include these little "how do you do it" pictures from time to time. Mostly because people have NO idea how anyone with twins operates. They can't believe I can shower. Every day even! (I know, right?) This is our set-up. I put the girls in their bouncy seats and they kick each other and talk to each other and sometimes I sing to them. They love it and so do I! Sometimes I peek over the top of the shower door at them to see what they are doing and they are always smiling. Once they start crawling, I'm planning to baby-proof the crap out of the bathroom and close them in with me. Then we'll have a basket of toys that is just for shower time. I love hearing moms of one baby say they "just can't find the time" to shower. I will admit to being pretty judgmental of moms of singletons who can't get it together.

My mom made these balls for the girls and they love to play with them. I like them because they're soft so when they are flinging them around, no one gets hurt. Several times I have had to take toys away from Amelia because she is flinging them around so hard that she hits herself in the head.

See how Amelia's dress is kind of see-through? Its because she slobbers. All. The. Time. It is so bad that we have to change her clothes several times a day. Poor little thing. We found out earlier this week that she has eczema and I don't think the constant drooling is helping her any.

If you couldn't tell from previous pictures, we're unassisted sitters now! Yay girls! It is amazing how they can't do something and then they can kind-of do it and then WHAM! All of a sudden, they are just perfect at it. They are sitting up for so long and so well now! They hardly ever fall down.

Now that they are sitting up, Amelia and Claire always want to sit forward. I am constantly saying "lean back, lean back" when I'm feeding them. A funny story- Last week while I was feeding the girls breakfast, Claire was bent in half chewing on the leg divider. I would call her name and she would sit up for her bite. After the third time this happened, Claire actually sighed and sat up and looked at me like "Mom, can't you see I'm busy here?" So big.

My two wild children and Claire with wild hair! We got these outfits at Target. Unfortunately they shrunk a LOT when I washed them so I'm going to see if they'll take them back.

Amelia said we needed a close-up of her.

Big hirls in the tub. They love getting to sit up in the tub. I still think their favorite thing is getting to be Princess Towelly when they get out though. They love to wrap up in their big fluffy towels. They also love...

Their bathrobes! My friend Joanie got these for the girls when I was pregnant and they are finally fitting. They are so precious with their wet hair and robes!

Overall I think the girls are doing so great. Their doctor says you would never know they were preemies. Amelia weighed in at 20 pounds last week at the doctor and Claire was 17 pounds last month when she went. She may be up to 18 by now. They have gotten so heavy in their car seats that I have just started leaving the seats in the car all the time. It doesn't do much good to have a carrier if you can't lift the thing! The only time I take the seats out of the car is to put them in the stroller. Because that's still the easiest way for us to get out and about right now. I'm seeing another stroller in our future... We already have 3!

The girls are a little mood-swingy at times. I don't know if they are starting to teethe again or if its "I want to communicate but I'm a baby so I can't and I'm frustrated about it!" Also something new that has started is that the girls are fighting their naps now. They used to go down so peacefully and now they are just screaming. I don't know what has suddenly changed.

My Easter Bunnies

Steve and the girls at my parents' house right before the left for church. Steve took the girls to church with his parents so they could "show off their grandkids." They looked SO beautiful in the dresses that my mom made for them. Afterward we took the girls out in the yard and took these pictures-

Amelia looking gorgeous. This is one of the few pictures where she's not trying to grab the leaves.

My beautiful Claire! Can you believe my mom just had this rocking chair at her house? Its so cute!

Pottery Barn: 0, Stephanie: 2

We are slowly working on decorating our new house and right now we are trying to work on our bedroom. I saw these curtains on Pottery Barn's website and thought they were pretty cute and they match the colors in our bedspread really well. But PB wants $89 EACH for them plus $89 EACH for the curtain rods plus shipping. Even without the shipping that is $356! There's no way I was paying that. Especially not for burlap. Isn't the whole point of burlap that its super cheap?

So I went to Joann's and used a 50% off coupon on the fabric and got 6 yards for $12. I already had the curtain rods but wanted them to be dark to match the hardware in the rest of the house. I spent $7 for a can of Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint and sprayed them down. Total cost $19. And I think the effect is exactly the same. So cute! I am proud of my thriftyness today!

Ignore the fact that there are no sheets on the bed...

Some things change, some things stay the same

Thanks to Daddy, the girls have a new favorite activity. They love to play in our bed. Usually when he gets home from work, Steve will take the girls to our bed for some silliness and then take turns flying them around the room. I must say, they LOVE it.

So cute. Claire has another new tooth. That makes 2 for her and none for Amelia though I'm sure she'll catch up soon.

If you can't tell- that's Claire's teeth. The one on the right is just barely showing through.

Lately I have been wondering about Amelia's eyes. We have always assumed they were going to change to brown. You know how babies have those dark grayish blue eyes? Hers are like that while Claire's changed fairly early to a light (beautiful!) crystal blue. I think this picture shows it pretty well-

(If you click on it, you can see it better). Anyway, now that she is 7 months old, I'm wondering if her eyes are going to change at all. We met a kid at the doctor's office the other day who is 4 months old and already has brown eyes. So I'm curious to see what they do.

Claire was playing outside and came to visit Mommy at the kitchen window. What a cutie.

Amelia was playing outside too! Steve loves to take the girls outside to be "yard kids." And they LOVE to go outside. Mostly they just lay on the blankets and look at the trees and feel the wind on their faces. Its very sweet. My girls are little outside babies.

Amelia gets a little bed-head when she wakes up. Its so cute. Her little hairs stick up in the back. Poor little Amelia has a yeast infection under her neck right now. She's been drooling so much lately that her neck always stays wet and its turned into an infection. Poor little baby. And I have stuff to rub on it but she HATES it. It makes me feel so bad!

Over all, the girlies are doing well. I just can't believe my little Lady Bugs are 7 months old. They are so big. Every day, we just look at them and say "I can't believe how big they are." At their 6 month check-up, Amelia weighed almost 19 pounds and Claire was almost 17. They are eating breakfast and dinner every day and sometimes a snack around lunchtime. They LOVE to eat crackers and they can do it all by themselves. Although when they drop them, they need you to put it back in their hands. The haven't learned the "pincer grasp" yet so they can't eat little cheerios and things but they'll be there soon. Claire is sitting up by herself a little bit and Amelia is trying so hard to crawl. I just want them to slow down but at the same time, its so fun to see them grow and learn new things.

Military Family

We are a military family. Which means that my husband is only getting half of his next paycheck and after that... who knows. I don't mind so much for us- we have money in the bank that will last us until the back-pay kicks in. But I have a brother deployed to Afghanistan. I'm glad he doesn't have a family depending on him. Its insulting. My husband put his life on the line every day for a year, moved his family away from their aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents, moved his family 3 times in the last year alone and we can't get a freaking paycheck? Its infuriating. My baby has a rash on her neck. If I need to take her to the doctor on Monday, can I? Or will that be shut down too? Ok, probably not but still. Its infuriating. But Congress is still paying themselves. Of course.

Twins

Twins are amazing. Amelia was crying for a minute trying to go to sleep. And two feet away Claire is just sleeping away like she's in a quiet, peaceful room.

Today has been better. I swear they know they were bad yesterday and they are trying to make up for it.

Status Updates

Lately, thoughts about my life have been coming to me in the form of status updates. These would be:

Stephanie is going to blow her brains out if the two cutest girls ever don't stop screaming.
Stephanie can't find the bottles. Oh. They're in her hand.
Stephanie is losing her mind. Because of All. The. Screaming.
Stephanie is running away from home.
Stephanie would like to have just a little time to herself.
Stephanie loves that her girls love bananas.
Stephanie LOVES the fact that Claire just gave her daddy a hug when he walked in the door.
Stephanie wonders where her hug is.
Stephanie thinks it is SO cute the way her girls laugh at each other. No idea what they're laughing about.
Stephanie can tell you- there is an extra step to changing poopy diapers with twins- you have to keep the clean twin's feet out of her sister's poop. Its like a freaking magnet.

Really there's a lot of poop related ones... Sigh. Lately I have been wondering where my sweet babies have gone. I think probably its just the teeth and the fact that they are in some kind of transition. They are going from little babies to big babies and I think its hard for them. But Oh. My. God. Its hard for me too. It is really really hard to be around 2 screaming people all day. Who barely nap. We are talking 1.5 hours split into 3 sessions. And I can't keep them up any longer than that because Holy Screaming. Its just a phase. Its just a phase. Its just a phase...

This may be the whiniest post every. But I'm just SO tired. I just really want someone to give me a break. But I have no one. Anyone I could consider leaving them with lives 3 hours away. And I don't know anyone here. And we have no babysitter. Not even a teenager who can play with the girls so I can clean a bathroom. And I can't even get my laundry folded. And for some reason, my husband thinks we don't need a cleaning person...? I'm just so overwhelmed. And tired. Sigh. This too shall pass...